How it started
Early history
ICC was incorporated in 1965 by Robert Vesco (1935–2007), an entrepreneur from Detroit, Michigan. Vesco had secured control of Captive Seal, a valve manufacturer in Fairfield, New Jersey, and placed its assets and liabilities into the newly formed company. He then acquired Cryogenics Inc., a nearly defunct Florida-based manufacturer of cryogenic devices founded in 1959. Vesco merged ICC with Cryogenics and reorganized ICC as a public corporation in Florida, thus skirting SEC filing requirements.
Vesco initiated an aggressive expansion of ICC, borrowing heavily to acquire new holdings via hostile takeovers. By the end of 1967, ICC owned Fairfield Aviation (which operated Caldwell-Wright Airport, later renamed Essex County Airport), ICC Manufacturing (formerly Lowden Machine Co.), The Special Corporation (a precision manufacturer of electronic components), Silber Products, and the Moeller Tool Corporation.
ICC's stock was listed on the American Stock Exchange in May 1968. Later that year, it acquired the Intercontinental Manufacturing Company, a weapons manufacturer in Garland, Texas, and made a tender offer for the Electronic Specialty Company, a large manufacturer of aeronautical and electromechanical components. After a series of lawsuits, the acquisition of Electronic Specialty was completed in July 1969.
Later history
In the wake of Vesco's flight, ICC was left in massive debt and facing several lawsuits. The company was placed under court supervision and was suspended from trading stock. In April 1973, the court-appointed board of directors selected Allen M. Shinn, a recently retired United States Navy vice admiral, as president and chief executive officer, with Elmer A. Sticco named chief operating officer.
From Wikipedia’s article on International Controls Corporation, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.2